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City pledges to
become age-friendly
LIVERPOOL is set to embark
on a groundbreaking new approach to supporting older people.
The Mayor's Cabinet has approved a recommendation that Liverpool
applies to become a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO)
network of 'age-friendly cities'.
It is based upon the principles of active ageing, in which key
partners work together to make sure the quality of life for people
is enhanced as they age. The standards include requirements
around issues ranging from outdoor spaces and buildings through to
transportation, housing and social participation.
Mayor Joe Anderson has now signed a pledge committing Liverpool to
becoming an age friendly city. As a result, the City Council will undertake
a 5 year planning, implementation and evaluation programme which
will see it share best practice with other age friendly cities.
Local people will be involved in assessing the city's strengths and
gaps, and how the checklist of features matches their own
experiences. And through a £7.7 million programme called
DALLAS (Delivering Assistive Living Lifestyles at Scale), 200
Community Champions will be recruited to raise the profile of
activities and services available to people in neighbourhoods, in
order to address issues of loneliness and promote social inclusion.
The scheme will also make use of extended use of assistive
technology such as telecare to enable people to continue living at
home in safety.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said:- "We face a growing
older population and we need to be in a position to make sure we
respond to the challenges this brings, and also take their needs
into account when planning and delivering services. I want us
to be able to offer good quality and accessible services where
people can continue to be independent and enjoy life to the full as
they get older."
Under the plan, the council also proposes creating an integrated
housing, health and social care system. It follows a recent decision
to invest in three housing complexes to provide 'extra care'
round
the clock support to older people, giving them more independence
than being cared for in residential homes.
The plans include:- ►
Delivering an additional 260 units of Extra Care Housing (ECH) for
older people who need 24/7 care, which were recently approved by
Cabinet, meaning a total of five schemes across the city
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Offering land to housing providers and developers to meet the needs
of older and disabled people, including larger bungalows to enable
people to live together in a small group
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Creating integrated health and social care teams to support older
people with long term conditions to better manage their health, stay
well and avoid hospital admission
Assistant Mayor and Cabinet member for adult social care and health,
Councillor Roz Gladden said:- "This is a long term commitment
from the city to making sure that older people are at the heart of
our thinking and planning around services, and aren't left isolated.
We are already investing heavily in making sure we are able to
support older people through our new health and social care hubs at Venmore,
Sedgemoor and Granby to support people who have strokes, dementia
and those needing support to get back to full fitness after illness.
Becoming an age-friendly city is about looking at all the services
we provide and working with partners to make sure we are considering
their needs."
The DALLAS programme involves the Liverpool Clinical Commissioning
Group (formerly Liverpool PCT) and partners including PSS, Local
Solutions and Riverside.
Dr Nadim Fazlani, Chair of Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group,
said:- "To radically improve levels of self-care in the City,
the CCG, working with voluntary sector partners, is aiming to
encourage people to get involved in local community action and
development.
In commissioning the programme, the CCG will make a significant
investment in local communities by training, developing and
deploying Champions to raise the profile of neighbourhood well-being
activity, resources and assets.
Champions will support their family, friends and neighbours to
improve their well-being by providing information, advice about and
signposting to things that happening across the City. They will make
fantastic partners in the journey towards an age friendly
Liverpool." Liverpool spends almost £62 million a year on care for older people. |
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EMPLOYERS AND
UNIONS BACK NEW LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME
HAVING reached this unique
agreement the next stage is to develop better scheme governance to
ensure value for money, performance improvement and cost stability
going forward says GMB
Below is the text of a joint statement on the Local Government
Pensions Scheme (LGPS 2014) issued 30 September 2012 by Local
Government employers and unions including GMB.
Consultations result in overwhelming support for new LGPS proposals.
Consultations undertaken by the Local Government Association (LGA),
UNISON, GMB and Unite have overwhelmingly approved the proposals for
a reformed Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) published at the
end of May. The consultations took place between the beginning of
June and the end of August and included individual ballots for union
members and a process enabling scheme employers to both express
support (or not) and make comments on the proposals.
The consultations resulted in the proposals being supported by:-
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93% of employers.
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90% of UNISON members.
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95% of GMB members.
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84% of Unite members.
The overwhelming majority of other unions with members in the LGPS
have also accepted the proposals, including NAPO, UCATT, AEP and
Prospect. The employer and trade union votes taken together
give a clear mandate to accept the proposals.
A statutory consultation process will now be undertaken by
Government in order to implement these proposals. This process will
also include proposals currently being finalised under workstream 2
of the LGPS 2014 project covering scheme governance and cost
management.
Brian Strutton – GMB National Secretary for Public Services said:-
"GMB members have spoken loud and clear. The new LGPS 2014
proposals represent a fair and balanced outcome which means the
pensions scheme will remain affordable and sustainable. GMB members
have recognised this as shown by the overwhelming vote in favour.
There was great anger and frustration at the Government's original
proposals for the LGPS which, frankly, would have seriously
jeopardised the
£150 billion worth of funds. That led to the strike last November
which was followed by the Government agreeing to the renegotiating
of the offer.
Having reached this unique agreement the next stage is to develop
better scheme governance to ensure value for money, performance
improvement and cost stability going forward.
Of all the schemes in the public sector, the LGPS is the only one
where reform has been achieved by member agreement rather than
government imposition. Achieving a negotiated outcome acceptable to
members was always GMBs objective and it is just as important that
council employers and government are also in agreement."
Sir Merrick Cockell – LGA Chairman said:- "Our approach
throughout this process has been to reform the pension scheme so it
is fair to our staff, affordable for council taxpayers and has a
viable long-term future. The overwhelming level of support for these
proposals is very encouraging, and demonstrates the commitment among
employers in local government to a manageable scheme that gives
staff a decent pension when they retire."
Heather Wakefield – UNISON National Secretary Local Government,
Police and Justice Section said:- "These were tough
negotiations, but with a focus on the majority of members who earn
less than £21,000 a year, we have ensured that current LGPS members
can afford to remain in the scheme and those who could not afford to
do so to date can now join via a low cost option.
This is vital for many of our members who have suffered a decline in
earnings as a result of the coalition's pay freeze policies.
Contributions are now on a fairer 'progressive' basis. We will
continue to campaign with all of the union, through the TUC, against
the proposals to increase the state retirement age."
Peter Allenson – Unite National Officer for Local Government said:-
"This is a positive step forward following the November strike
and some genuine negotiations with local government employers which
have also been signed off by the Government.
Our members took strike action and as a result they got a better
deal.
However, the strike action was followed by constructive negotiations
which we are pleased ended in an agreement which was acceptable to
our members."
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